Be Gay, Solve Crime - 10 Queer Detective Novels
- Proud Geek
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
BE GAY, SOLVE CRIME! This week, we're taking a look at LGBTQ+ detective novels. From queer murder mysteries to gay detectives, supernatural crime agencies and lesbian private investigators, here are 10 LGBTQ+ books about queer detectives solving crime.
Note: All of these books are explicit and tackle difficult themes - please check trigger warnings before reading these books.
Adam Macqueen
Historical Fiction/Thriller
Queer Rep: Queer Men, Queer Cast
When Jeremy Thorpe hired thugs to kill his ex-lover, they botched it. What if they had succeeded?
It is February 1976, and the naked corpse of a shockingly underage rent boy is fished out of a pond on Hampstead Heath. Since the police don't seem to care, twenty-year-old Tommy Wildeblood - himself a former 'Dilly boy' prostitute - finds himself investigating.
Dodging murderous Soho hoodlums and the agents of a more sinister power, Tommy uncovers another, even more shocking crime: the Liberal leader and likely next Home Secretary, Jeremy Thorpe, has had his former male lover executed on Exmoor and got clean away with it.
Courtney Smyth
Paranormal Murder Mystery
Queer Rep: Queer Women, Queer Men
A magical serial killer is stalking the Occult town of Wrackton. Hypnotic whistling causes victims to chew their own tongues off, leading to the killer being dubbed the Whistler (original, right?). But outside the lack of taste buds and the strange magical carvings on the victims’ torsos, the murderer leaves no evidence.
Enter the Undetectables, a detective agency run by three witches and a ghost in a cat costume (don’t ask). They are hired to investigate the murders, but with their only case so far left unsolved, will they be up to the task? Mallory, the forensic science expert, is struggling with pain and fatigue from her recently diagnosed fibromyalgia. Cornelia, the team member most likely to go rogue and punch a police officer, is suddenly stirring all sorts of feelings in Mallory. Diana, the social butterfly of the group, is hitting up all of her ex-girlfriends for information. And not forgetting ghostly Theodore – deceased, dramatic, and also the agency’s first dead body and unsolved murder case.
William Hussey
Crime Thriller/Mystery
Queer Rep: Queer Men
Fresh out of prison, former Detective Constable Scott Jericho is a desperate man. Disgraced and penniless after his assault on a violent suspect, he is forced to seek refuge with the fairground family he once rejected. Now, troubled by his failure, Jericho’s brilliant mind stagnates.
That is until a series of bizarre murders reawaken his interest. Men and women with no obvious link to each other are being ritualistically slaughtered. Slaughtered in ways that recall an old legend of the Jericho Travelling Fair.
Now, in a race against time, he must unpick the threads of a baffling mystery. But as his investigation unfolds and the corpses pile up, a shocking truth awaits him. A revelation that will test not only Jericho’s intellect but challenge the very core of his morality...
Justine Pucella Winans
Campy YA Mystery Thriller
Queer Rep: Non-Binary
A campy YA thriller about an anxious, introverted nonbinary teen birder who somehow finds themself solving a murder mystery with their neighbor/fellow anime lover, all while falling for a cute girl from their birding group... and trying not to get murdered.
Sixteen-year-old Bianca Torre is an avid birder undergoing a gender identity crisis and grappling with an ever-growing list of fears. When their gaze wanders from the birds to one particular window across the street, Bianca witnesses a creepy plague-masked murderer take their neighbor’s life. Worse, the death is ruled a suicide, forcing Bianca to make a choice - succumb to their long list of fears or investigate what happened.
Bianca enlists the help of their friend Anderson Coleman, but the two have more knowledge of anime than true crime. As Bianca and Anderson dig deeper into the murder with a little help from Bianca’s crush and fellow birding aficionado, Elaine Yee, the trio uncovers a conspiracy much larger than imagined.
Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain
Lesbian Detective Mystery
Queer Rep: Queer Women
A newly registered Private Investigator attempts to track down Alice B. Toklas’s reputed horn in this smart, hilarious, sexy, and deeply poignant detective novel.
Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas are the most famous married couple of Modernism, icons of literary queer history. But what if Alice had a secret? What if, underneath her thickly cultivated fringe and low brimmed hats, there was something sinister growing? What if, as Picasso claimed, Alice B. Toklas really did have a horn?
This is what the mysterious voice on the phone is asking of her. And she’s in no position to hang up; a newly registered Private Investigator, she recently walked away from an exploitative job in academia, is bereaved following the sudden death of her partner, and has a kid to support. The case sounds ridiculous, but she needs the money.
Nita Tynall
YA Mystery Thriller
Queer Rep: Non-Binary
A standalone YA thriller following a nonbinary teen investigating a series of copycat murders targeting girls in their small town murders based on their serial killer dad's MO.
Another girl has gone missing in Cardinal Creek. Sid knows their dad didn't do it - this time. He's currently serving a life sentence for the five girls he murdered ten years ago. Girls whose bodies he dumped into the lake. The same lake where June Hargrove was just found.
And while Sid's dad couldn't have done it, suspicion is now directed at Sid. The only person who doesn't suspect Sid is the new girl, Mavis - as long as Sid doesn't let her find out about their past. But Sid has another secret: They're being haunted by the ghosts of the five girls their father killed. Except now there are six. And unlike the others, June isn't content to just whisper in Sid's ear. She wants them to find out who's killing again, especially as another girl goes missing.
Susan J Morris
Historical Supernatural Mystery
Queer Rep: Queer Women
At the dawn of the twentieth century in Paris, Samantha Harker, daughter of Dracula’s killer, works as a researcher for the Royal Society for the Study of Abnormal Phenomena. But no one realizes how abnormal she is. Sam is a channel into the minds of monsters.
Sam finds herself assigned to a case with Dr. Helena Moriarty, daughter of the criminal mastermind and famed nemesis of Sherlock Holmes and a notorious detective whom no one wants to work with on account of her previous partners’ mysterious murders.
Ranging from the elite clubs of Paris to the dark underbelly of the catacombs, their investigation sweeps them into a race to stop a beast from its killing rampage, as Hel and Sam are pitted against men, monsters, and even each other. But beneath their tenuous trust, an unmistakable attraction brews. Is trusting Hel the key to solving the murder, or is Sam yet another pawn in Hel’s game?
Justine Pucella Winans
YA Mystery Thriller/Dark Comedy
Queer Rep: Queer Women
When Gianna "Gigi" Ricci lands in detention again, she doesn't expect the glorified study hall to be her alibi.
But when she and her friends receive a mysterious email directing them to her favorite teacher, Mr. Ford's room, they find him lying in a pool of blood. But calling the math teacher's death an accident doesn't add up, and Gigi needs all the help she can get to find the truth. Luckily, she's friends with her high school's "mystery club," and so with her best friend, Sean, and longtime crush, Mari, Gigi sets out to solve a murder.
But it turns out, murderers are extremely unwilling to be caught, and the deeper Gigi gets in this mystery, the more dangerous things become. Between fending off a murderer, continual flare-ups of her IBS, and her archnemesis turning flirtatious... making it out of junior year is going to be one killer problem.
Kingsley Pearson
Psychological Thriller
Queer Rep: Queer Men
A mixed-race gay man imprisoned for a crime he falsely confessed to is blackmailed about the crime he actually committed.
All Jay wants is to start again, to set himself up in a small, quiet town where no one knows him. Because here, no one will let him forget what they think he did the day his neighbour died in Flat 401. He just needs to keep doing what he's always done: treat people with kindness and respect, and try to stay out of trouble.
But when a threatening note makes its way into the hostel, he's forced to call home - Everyone is going to know what you really did - his hope for a fresh start begins to crumble. Jay fears that the secret he's fought so hard to hide, that he went to prison to protect, might finally come out. How far is he willing to go to keep his freedom alive? And with a shadowy figure from his past tracking Jay's every move, perhaps it's not just his freedom Jay should be worried about being taken from him, but his life...
Holly Stars
Murder Mystery
Queer Rep: Non-Binary
By day, shy hotel accountant Joe hides behind their desk and plays by the rules. By night, Joe takes to the stage as Misty Divine, an upcoming star of the London drag scene.
But when Misty’s mentor, Lady Lady, is found dead in her dressing room, Misty finds herself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Because Lady Lady was murdered – and as the only ones with access to her room, Misty and her fellow performers quickly become prime suspects.
Heartbroken by the loss, and frustrated by the inaction of the police, Joe is determined to uncover the killer in their midst. But what can they, a mere hotel accountant, possibly do? This is a case for Misty Divine…
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